For the summer Veronica and Erika are discussing the lifestyle of the average Jew in first century Israel.  For most of this podcast, we will be explaining children’s education.

Starting at age five, boys and girls begin to memorize and study Scripture.  Listen to the podcast to find out which book children started memorizing. Even before children started learning the Scriptures though, parents would give the child a Torah scroll with honey on it.  They wanted the child’s first impression to be that Scripture is sweet.  What are you teaching the children in your life about the study of Scripture?

From ages five to ten boys and girls would memorize the first five books of the Old Testament.  Then from ages ten to thirteen they would memorize the rest of the Old Testament as well as the discussions and debates that surrounded those books.  They were trained how to think and ask questions about the Scripture.  They were given a chance to wrestle with the truths found there. This education did not just happen inside school walls though.  From morning till night while they worked together, they were reviewing the Scriptures.  How would reviewing Scripture affect your attitude and activity?

At age thirteen most boys go to work with dad while the girls learn how to run a household from their mothers.  Erika points out how women were elevated in that society because of all the roles she filled.

We left you with two takeaways from today’s show.  First you have the ability to influence those around you.  Don’t underestimate your ability to be light.  Second, we need to know our Scripture more and regularly be wrestling with it with those around us.  Ask those hard questions and see what your friends and family have to say.

While we didn’t specifically mention any authors who we’ve learned from, our information came from Dwight A. Pryor, Lois Tverberg, Brad Young, Kenneth Bailey, First Fruits of Zion, and Jerusalem University College in Israel.